Rat Eye Infection

Question
Hi Sandra,

My hairless rat, Nancy, has what I have been told is an eye infection, it looks something akin to "Cherry Eye" in dogs, and the eye itself looks to have a "shiny" greenish tint to it, almost like a cataract. She doesn't have any porphryn staining, and it doesn't seem to bother her. My vet who will see my rats, but only as a courtesy to me, the nearest exotics vet is an hour and a half away..gave me some Baytril, but told me that due to her age he wouldn't likely remove the eye because she probably would not survive the surgery.
Since she is just past 3 years old, and she was purchased from a feeder bin..could this be something genetic, or is it most likely to be Myco related? And would you have any suggestions on how to make her more comfortable, she's still very active, still my little escape artist, but has been gradually losing weight and slowing down the last month.
I'll try to get a picture, but she's a squirmy little booger!

Case

Answer
My boy, Santana, had his eye removed and did great, but of course he wasnt 3 years old, either.  I just told someone else that has a 3 year old rat with a mammary tumor that the  risks to anesthesia rises with age, but that can be resolved with a blood test to check out liver and heart enzymes and to see if she was healthy enough for the surgery. However, the eye could die on its own and dry up, or the infectino could go away with proper antibiotic treatment.  What antibiotic is she on and what type of eye drops was she given?  Santanas eye was pretty nasty, it looked like a glob of green snot.  

One thing though...if the vet your seeing is not a real exotic vet chances are he or she doesnt have the right microsurgical tools needed to remove a small mammals eye and rather than say they just cant do it, they would rather let you think it should not be done.

If this was a life or death thing, I would tell  you to have it removed anyhow  since she would die if you dont do the surgery, but its not the case.  I would like to know though what treatment her current vet has prescribed for her to try and clear this up.  Also for grins, let me know your location so I can  try to see if I know of any  vets closer to you that can help if this is a real situation that the eye has to come out right away.